![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Huai Dao/The Way of the Evil by Priest
Nov. 22nd, 2023 09:35 pmI read Huai Dao/The Way of the Evil, a BL novel by Priest.
Excerpt from the summary:
This is a detective story filled with all kinds of people—from those with abnormal behavior to the mentally unstable—with numerous absurd cases with handsome men and beautiful women interwoven in them. […]
A series of missing children, corpses down the drain, a murderer who died and was revived, an obsessive, serial bomber who targets public buses, the bloody words on the walls belonging to a family all murdered…
And here are my thoughts, no spoilers:
• You can tell this is an earlier work, it’s not as polished as Priest’s newer novels. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed myself reading! The ending was a bit rushed, though - one more chapter would have worked wonders.
• Some of the story beats are literally the same in Mo Du, and the two stories have a similar vibe overall. It’s mostly the main characters and main couple’s relationship where they differ. I guess you could say Huai Dao walked so Mo Du could run :D
• Some side characters are from one of Priest’s other novels (I think). This is probably awesome if you know this novel, but makes these characters a little too enigmatic if you don’t.
• The main relationship is simple and straightforward. Shen Yexi goes from being mildly annoyed by Jiang Hu to fondness for his quirks. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s also not exceedingly exciting (so only a normal amount of excitement, heh). I like their interactions towards the end of the story, when they’re starting to settle into the relationship.
I feel that this quote sums up their vibe in the later chapters:
Shen Yexi grinned, because he found Jiang Hu’s expression when he was playing dirty tricks attractive. It made him want to pull him into his arms to massage him—Of course, that was as long as the dirty tricks were not meant for him.
Excerpt from the summary:
This is a detective story filled with all kinds of people—from those with abnormal behavior to the mentally unstable—with numerous absurd cases with handsome men and beautiful women interwoven in them. […]
A series of missing children, corpses down the drain, a murderer who died and was revived, an obsessive, serial bomber who targets public buses, the bloody words on the walls belonging to a family all murdered…
And here are my thoughts, no spoilers:
• You can tell this is an earlier work, it’s not as polished as Priest’s newer novels. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed myself reading! The ending was a bit rushed, though - one more chapter would have worked wonders.
• Some of the story beats are literally the same in Mo Du, and the two stories have a similar vibe overall. It’s mostly the main characters and main couple’s relationship where they differ. I guess you could say Huai Dao walked so Mo Du could run :D
• Some side characters are from one of Priest’s other novels (I think). This is probably awesome if you know this novel, but makes these characters a little too enigmatic if you don’t.
• The main relationship is simple and straightforward. Shen Yexi goes from being mildly annoyed by Jiang Hu to fondness for his quirks. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s also not exceedingly exciting (so only a normal amount of excitement, heh). I like their interactions towards the end of the story, when they’re starting to settle into the relationship.
I feel that this quote sums up their vibe in the later chapters:
Shen Yexi grinned, because he found Jiang Hu’s expression when he was playing dirty tricks attractive. It made him want to pull him into his arms to massage him—Of course, that was as long as the dirty tricks were not meant for him.
